Interior Chinatown
A Hulu Exclusive
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted December 2, 2024
This will be more a brief synopsis of the show rather than a review, but with as few spoilers as I can manage. Charles Yu, author of the novel on which it is based, is also the creator, executive producer, showrunner, and a writer on the Hulu series adaptation of Interior Chinatown. I watched the series first, then read the book. You might expect them both to follow each other more closely, but perhaps Yu had different ideas for the story after completing the book. Many of the same characters appear; Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang), his father (Tzi Ma), the former martial arts instructor known then as Sifu, and his mother (Diana Lin), who in the show does become a real estate agent, surprising an old friend who had moved out of Chinatown years before. The TV show within the show is the same, Black and White: Impossible Crimes Unit, starring detectives Miles Turner (Solomon Jones) and Sarah Green (Lisa Gilroy), although their personalites are a bit different from book to show. I much prefer TV Miles to book Miles, who kept making racist remarks about the people in Chinatown, insinuating that even though he was a minority too, he was still a step or two above them.
Others who were briefly mentioned in the book have larger roles in the series, including Fatty Choi (Ronny Chieng), who almost steals the show from the lead. He works at the Golden Palace Restaurant with Willis, where Willis' mother is the hostess. Carl (Chau Long) has a much bigger role here. In the book Willis called a random person Carl, who responded "My name is not Carl!" Chloe Bennet plays Lana Lee, whereas in the book it was Karen Lee, and there is a change in her part, from low-level police to a new detective assigned to the ICU, although neither Turner or Green understand how and why she became part of the team. The book had Older Brother, the best student Sifu ever taught, but he wasn't Willis' real brother. Almost all of the same generation called him Older Brother, the way they would also call older women Auntie, even if not related. In the show he is Willis' brother, missing for many years. Older Brother in the book had also been missing, but for different reasons.
The show plays out like a long-form version of The Twilight Zone, or perhaps Black Mirror. Willis is confused when at one point he is watching the TV show Black and White, then the detectives from the show arrive at the Golden Palace to investigate a murder. Willis had always wanted to be part of a mystery, even if only as a witness. He had witnessed a woman being abducted, but for some reason did not report it. He later sees a news report that she was found dead, and yet a day or so later he sees her again in Chinatown, very much alive. A character not in the book but in the show is Uncle Wong (Archie Kao), owner of the restaurant. I don't know if he is the real uncle of Willis or any of the other characters. A later reveal is that he may have something to do with the mysterious abducted woman.
While I was watching over several nights I posted about it on Facebook, talking about the dual nature of the show, that maybe most of it was just in Willis' imagination, or that he might be part of someone else's imagination. Several times in the middle of scenes there is a glitch, either a temporary distortion of the video, or a complete switch in location, with characters commenting, "What's going on?" or "Did you see that?" At times other characters do not acknowledge Willis at all, as if he is invisible or doesn't exist. Then he starts insinuating himself into situations, becoming Delivery Guy to get access to the police precinct. Later, after impressing others within the force, he is able to take the place of Tech Guy to gain more information about his missing brother, whom Lana Lee also wants to investigate. At another point he becomes Translator, when Uncle Wong is brought in for questioning. Slowly but surely, he gets the attention of Turner and Green, who eventually acknowledge him as part of the team. Impossible Crimes Unit had been running for many years, but not originally also Black and White, since the lead detectives had both been white. Or if it did include that in the title, it might have referred to the typical police squad car. In the earlier version of the show, Willis' older brother was a part of it, as Kung Fu Guy, but then he went missing. Is he still alive, just laying low due to some investigation gone wrong? Willis and Lana Lee work to uncover leads gone cold over fifteen years. Whatever they find will probably not be good news for Willis.
Throughout ten episodes, the show has a lot of twists and turns, detours and subplots, mysteries around every corner. In the book Willis wanted to be Kung Fu Guy, and that is mentioned here too since his brother had been Kung Fu Guy, but he mainly wants to become a real detective, and it is possible he manages that. He also wants a closer relationship with Lana Lee, and it is possible that will happen, because he [REDACTED]. Nope, I won't reveal that. There are additional scenes in the book, which makes me hope IMDb is incorrect in labeling it a miniseries. I want more episodes. Perhaps if it gets enough views Hulu will oblige. I suggest you go watch it now if you haven't already. I intend to watch again soon myself.
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